You can't sign up for the quantum internet just yet, but researchers have reported a major experimental milestone towards building a global quantum network - and it's happening in space.
With a network that carries information in the quantum properties of single particles, you can create secure keys for secret messaging and potentially connect powerful quantum computers in the future. But scientists think you will need equipment in space to get global reach.
The northern reaches of North America are getting greener, according to a NASA study that provides the most detailed look yet at plant life across Alaska and Canada. In a changing climate, almost a third of the land cover - much of it Arctic tundra - is looking more like landscapes found in warmer ecosystems.
Using a new satellite-based method, scientists at NASA, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and two universities have located 39 unreported and major human-made sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- On Pluto, icebergs floating in a sea of nitrogen ice are key to a possible explanation of the quilted appearance of the Sputnik Planum region of the dwarf planet's surface.
An international team of scientists has pushed the limits of radio astronomy to detect a faint signal emitted by hydrogen gas in a galaxy more than five billion light years away -- almost double the previous record.
Using the Very Large Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the US, the team observed radio emission from hydrogen in a distant galaxy and found that it would have contained billions of young, massive stars surrounded by clouds of hydrogen gas.
For some comets, breaking up is not that hard to do.
A new study led by Purdue University and the University of Colorado Boulder indicates the bodies of some periodic comets - objects that orbit the sun in less than 200 years - may regularly split in two, then reunite down the road.
In fact, this may be a repeating process fundamental to comet evolution, according to the study, which is being published in Nature on June 1.
It all starts from a problem with dust: galaxies with the highest rates of star formation are also the "dustiest", because the violent process of star formation produces gas and heavy molecules. This means that part of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by nascent stars cannot be recorded by the instruments for astronomical observation in the optical and the ultraviolet band, as it is absorbed by dust and gas and re-emitted in the infrared. On top of this, owing to instrument limitations it is even difficult to observe this infrared radiation in the case of very distant, older galaxies.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 31, 2016) -- American University's Kogod School of Business Professor Siri Terjesen announces the launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's (GEM) Social Entrepreneurship Report. The report, released today, is the largest comparative study of social entrepreneurship in the world.
Researchers have developed an integrated, wearable system that monitors a user's environment, heart rate and other physical attributes with the goal of predicting and preventing asthma attacks. The researchers plan to begin testing the system on a larger subject population this summer.
AMES, Iowa - Low-income mothers in rural communities say participating in outdoor activities as a family is a primary need for their physical and emotional well-being. But a new paper co-authored by Iowa State University's Kimberly Greder and published in the Journal of Leisure Research demonstrates many of these families aren't getting time together.
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is a national vaccine safety reporting system that collects information about possible side effects that may occur after inoculation. Developed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and available online, anyone can report possible adverse reactions to vaccines for any reason, making it a rich source of information about possible vaccine harms. Recently, University of Missouri researchers proposed that open communication about VAERS could improve public trust that vaccines are safe, thereby increasing vaccine acceptance.
Photosynthesis, one of the most important biochemical and biophysical processes on earth, provides food and energy for nearly all living organisms (including human beings) in the biosphere. Studying the structures and mechanisms of various aspects of photosynthesis will potentially offer illuminating methods for solving increasingly pressing problems concerning energy, food and the environment. These problems create major restraints on the sustainable development of human society.
The extremely difficult conditions in which University of the Witwatersrand's (Wits) Professor Lee Berger's Rising Star team was forced to work, gave rise to the use of space-age technology to map the Dinaledi chamber and Rising Star Cave, in which over 1500 Homo naledi fossils were found.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 31, 2016 -- Much of modern life is deeply impacted by the behavior of ice.
The prices and affordability of recently developed and highly effective direct-acting antivirals for treating hepatitis C (HCV) vary greatly among countries worldwide, according to a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. Suzanne Hill and colleagues from the World Health Organization undertook an economic analysis of prices for a 12-week course of treatment with sofosbuvir and ledipasvir/sofosbuvir in 30 countries - mostly European as well as Egypt and Mongolia, adjusting for average 2015 exchange rates and purchasing power parity (PPP).